U R Not e to PLAY B3YOND: finding Sony’s trump card among diamonds in the rough
Fine, so you’ve had your PSP for quite some time now, and just recently next-gen-alized your living room with the PS3. Let’s take some time to call the Ghost of Gaming Past and dig up some dirt. Some really good dirt. After all, you never know what you’d find.
All of us have probably had our moments with the PSone (PlayStation, PS, PS1, PSOne, or whatever you choose to call it) – everyone has their own list of “classic” games.
What are the games we deem as classic – the games we still want to play? For the sake of not re-inventing the wheel and mentioning games that have been, across the bar, “teh best game EVAR,” we’ll take the road less travelled by. What we want to ask ourselves here is this: what are the classic games that shouldn’t have been missed but most likely were missed?
Yeah, we’re talking about those “diamonds in the rough” that were probably overlooked and could get some next-gen treatment (either remake, port, or emulated). Sony has been constantly giving us some PSone love via the PlayStation Network – games like Jumping Flash!, MediEvil, and Rally Cross. While those were fine while they lasted, there are hundreds of other titles that are still worth mentioning.
The rumor that the firmware emulation of PSone/PS2 will upscale games to 1080i/720p just recently got brought up (yet again). This development brings an interesting point to this whole discussion. After all this reminiscing of the games from the past, it makes one hopeful of the future. And at the same time scared too. Maybe U R Not e to PLAY B#@%!29
8#@%!YOND, after all.
Check out the “Full Article” and wipe the dust off your old games. It’s time to dig up some of the classics that most of us have forgotten about and how all this can whip out Sony’s “All Your Base Are Belong To Us” trump card.
Fine, so you’ve had your PSP for quite some time now, and just recently next-gen-alized your living room with the PS3. Let’s take some time to call the Ghost of Gaming Past and dig up some dirt. Some really good dirt. After all, you never know what you’d find.
All of us have probably had our moments with the PSone (PlayStation, PS, PS1, PSOne, or whatever you choose to call it) – everyone has their own list of “classic” games.
What are the games we deem as classic – the games we still want to play? For the sake of not re-inventing the wheel and mentioning games that have been, across the bar, “teh best game EVAR,” we’ll take the road less travelled by. What we want to ask ourselves here is this: what are the classic games that shouldn’t have been missed but most likely were missed?
Yeah, we’re talking about those “diamonds in the rough” that were probably overlooked and could get some next-gen treatment (either remake, port, or emulated). Sony has been constantly giving us some PSone love via the PlayStation Network – games like Jumping Flash!, MediEvil, and Rally Cross. While those were fine while they lasted, there are hundreds of other titles that are still worth mentioning.
Wild 9
Although there other side-scrolling games that could easily match-up with Wild 9 (or even top it), Wild 9 put in a very interesting factor into the platformer genre. Kill them baddies in whatever gruesome fashion you see fit, using the stuff around you: meat grinders, laser beams, or by simply smashing them into the ground in a bloody pulp. You might even call this game a sci-fi precursor to GTA, albeit a bit too avant garde.
Crash Team Racing
Even though Crash Bandicoot was known as one of the first great platformer games on the PSone, Naughty Dog branched off into the racing genre with this game. Back then, this was the closest thing that the PlayStation got to a Mario Kart. More than Mario Kart though, this game got immersive in that there were a lot of collectible and unlockable secrets to earn.
Wild Arms
This was one of the first notable RPG games for the PSone (there was Beyond the Beyond, but… well, I refuse to comment on that). Wild Arms didn’t have as much of a gamer following as the Final Fantasy RPGs have had, but Wild Arms still captured a lot of aficionados – so much so that the series catapulted onto the PS2 with other titles. For lack of a better picture, we’ve embedded the intro video below. Care to whistle along to the theme?
Bust-a-Move/Bust-a-Groove
Fortunately for me, I was able to play the original Japanese version. The Western version sort of butchered the J-Pop goodness of this dance-til-you-drop game. While everyone back then would have been playing either PaRappa or DDR, this was one of the other better rhythm games out there. The soundtrack was ace and the characters were very much alive with their own personalities and dancing styles.
Clock Tower
Need we say more? While rumors are floating around about the movie adaptation of this freaky game, I’m still pretty traumatized by Scissorman even up to today. No form of Pyramid Head or Nemesis ever freaked me out more than the antagonist of Clock Tower. At that time, point-and-click mixed into the survival horror genre was way better than seeing Nicholas Cage getting shot at the start of a movie.
Trap Gunner
I totally whooped arse in this game, going around the stage and setting traps for the opponent to fall into. You can probably call this a Bomberman title on ‘roids. The game gets interesting once you learn to string combos for your traps. This was both fun in single- and two-player mode. However, the AI was sometimes too dumb to recognize my traps, so at some point, I’d actually have to beg my friends to play against me. Battle of wits and curses, folks.
***
We know there are loads more we can include in this list. From Parasite Eve to Armored Core, Tail Concerto to Tobal 2, Saga Frontier, Einhander, Battle Arena Toshinden, Legend of Mana, Guilty Gear, Magic Carpet, Die Hard Trilogy, Persona, Tony Hawk, Dino Crisis, Dragon Ball Z, Brave Fencer Musashi, Syphon Filter… *takes deep breath* …Alundra, Rayman, Ehrgeiz, The Misadventures of Tron Bonne, Micro Machines v3,Kagero II, Heart of Darkness, Arc the Lad Collection, Klonoa, Cool Boarders, Alone in the Dark… This could take us ages to finish. We’re dang sure we’ve forgotten a lot, too.
The fact of the matter is that whatever you do, whoever you are, and whatever gaming background you have, you can’t deny that every single one of us has our very own list of games that they would still want to play. And even though everyone is pushing for future technology, you can’t deny that people would still want to play their classic games. Just as long as Sony recognizes this fact and never forgets about the huuuuge catalogue of classic games they’ve released on their first PS console, then that’s going send one big oomph to the whole gaming industry.
The rumor that the firmware emulation of PSone/PS2 will upscale games to 1080i/720p just recently got brought up (yet again). This development brings an interesting point to this whole discussion. After all this reminiscing of the games from the past, it makes one hopeful of the future. And at the same time scared too. Maybe U R Not e to PLAY B#@%!179
8#@%!YOND, after all.
If Sony gears up for something real big, allowing us to play all of our classic games from ages past and enjoy it in HD-era, then by god, can they go any more “beyond”?
While the games that have been mentioned here have only been the diamonds in the rough, what about all the big guns? You’ve got Symphony of the Night, Riiiiiiidge Raaaaacer, Ape Escape, Soul Reaver, Fear Effect, Wipeout, Tekken, Resident Evil, MGS, Spyro, and so much more.
Now think about this for a moment… A lot of the 360 fanboys keep saying how their Xbox Live empire is so unshakeable. With Gears of War in the picture, it’s not surprising – one might even admit defeat and say that Microsoft’s online network is unbeatable. However, if Sony would grant them that, then might they find another battle field where they can win perhaps?
Elementary, my dear Watson. If everything we’ve discussed still hasn’t given you the bigger picture yet, then it’s time to catch up to the game. If Sony might consider defeat in the online support area, then what other area can Sony win in? If they knew how to play their cards well, then it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where their trump card lays: continuous support and backwards compatibility to the empire they’ve built on the PSOne, PS2, and PSP.
Before you know it, you’re struck with an “All Your Base Are Belong To Us” moment of revelation.
About The Author
